First tennis match

Today was Thomas's first ever tennis match.  Since there is no spring musical on which he can work, he decided this would be a good year to give tennis a try.  He is playing JV and is playing doubles.  Today's match was a little rough, although they played a school that matched with the talent well so it wasn't awful.  A new adventure has begun!

The end of another break

In about 12 hours, I'll be leaving for work.  I'm very grateful I love my job, but I love my time off as well.  It's been very nice.

Friday morning I picked up my good friend from the airport.  She had gone to visit her ill father for two weeks.  It was an early pick up, and then we went and had breakfast with my mom.  I drove her around my hometown, and we all enjoyed visiting.  Catherine also came home that afternoon.  It was wonderful having her around for a Friday evening, and our family enjoyed some fun times.

Yesterday Andrew had his first official baseball game of the season.  We took our sweet pup with us, and the other coach's family, who are also very dear friends, joined us.  We had a very nice afternoon of visiting.

Today I took Catherine to see my sister so that she could sign some legal paperwork.  We then went to see my grandmother again since she hadn't seen the kids.  The wind was brutal, but the visit was lovely.  I'm so grateful she is vaccinated and we can see her!

This week there are three tennis matches and at least one baseball game.  I've also been able to make an appointment for Thomas to get his first vaccination shot, and Catherine is sticking around because she has an orthodontist appointment.  I'm so grateful!

Back to the grind, but I don't really mind! 

A day date on our staycation, and some good news

I am going to start with the good news.  Thomas passed his lifeguarding classes!  We are so excited for him.  He applied to work at the university pool and the community pool and country club pool will also be open this summer so he should be able to find a job.  He even passed the "extra test" that will allow him to work at the university pool.  It was required because they have a dive well that is more deep than normal.  Definitely a good day for him!

Andrew and I have kind of been considering this week a "staycation" and haven't worried too terribly much about home responsibilities.  Andrew still had baseball and assistant athletic director responsibilities, but we have allowed ourselves to do other things.  We ate out Tuesday evening and last night, and Andrew and I treated ourselves to lunch at our favorite restaurant today.  It is soooo good!  We also spent the day doing some shopping, and even buying a new recliner (that may or may not be delivered by the end of the year...good grief)!  We really enjoyed our day together.

As always, I am a little sad that this week is coming to a close.  Catherine is coming home tomorrow though, and probably will stay for an entire week.  Looking forward to more family time!

I got to visit with my grandmother

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my grandmother.  She was confused about her taxes and I went to help.  I told Andrew yesterday that I can see she is more confused about things these days overall.  After all, she is 90!  I also had to laugh when I mentioned that I hadn't taken my daily medication yesterday.  She mentioned that she sometimes forgets to take her vitamins.  That's right!  At age 90, the woman is on ZERO medications.  How is that even possible????  Grandma and I are both fully vaccinated, and it is absolutely wonderful to be able to visit together.  I am so, so grateful.

While I was gone, Thomas was taking the first of his lifeguarding classes.  He has them for three days this week.  When it is finished, he will be certified to be a lifeguard!  There are many pools in the area, and because of the university, there is even a pool open year-round.  It will be a good way for him to make some money.

Overall, it is a fairly uneventful spring break, and I suppose that isn't a bad thing!

The best part is almost always the beginning

Today was the last day of work before break.  Because there were no students, I didn't have to be there as early, AND I was able to leave an hour earlier than normal.  It is a bright sunny day (although still chilly) and there is all basketball, all day.  Other than a haircut tomorrow, I have no specific plans until Tuesday.  In between now and then is lots and lots of basketball.  I don't have to feel guilty about that, because it is the beginning of break.  The beginning is almost always the best part of break!

Only a few more hours

In less than eight hours, this house will officially be on spring break!  While there are no guarantees that my school and the public school will have the same break each year, this year we do, and I'm so very grateful for that!  Our school has not students today, so I can go in about an hour later than normal (of course, I didn't let myself sleep an hour longer), and I suspect I can be home a little early as well.  Just a few more hours until we all get to enjoy a week off!

I'm still not used to her leaving

Two weeks ago I received a text from Catherine, and I could tell that she was kind of "down".  She was going to come home the next evening because she was going to watch our sweet pup while we were gone for our friend's funeral, and I encouraged her to go ahead and come home that evening.  She did, and we were thrilled to have her.  While we were gone, she had an episode similar to the ones she had over the summer.  We were very surprised by this, and when we got home we had a conversation about things.  She was going to be coming home the following weekend (this past weekend) anyway, and then had a dental appointment yesterday.  We discussed that we had concerns about her driving if these were going to start happening again.  We explained that if she waited and left today, that would be another nine days for us to observes, and eleven days since her episode.  She agreed it was probably best that way.  I hated that she might have to be dealing with this again, but I certainly did not hate that my sweet girl was going to be home with us for such a long stretch.

It still went too quickly though.  We loved our family dinners together and watching some TV and some laughing together.  We had some wii bowling matches, and when Thomas was home Monday because of no school, I love that they made plans to hang out and get some coffee and doughnuts together.  Each day I was so grateful that the next day wasn't the day she was leaving.  But of course, yesterday arrived, and the next day was the day she was leaving.  I gave her a big hug before I went to bed last night, and spent a little time chatting with her.  This morning while she was still sleeping I went in to kiss her and prayed over her.

She let us know about Noon that she was heading back.  It still breaks my heart a little, although not nearly as much as the first couple of times.  Coming home today without her here, the driveway seemed empty without her car, and the house seemed empty without her laugh.  It isn't just me though.  She is truly Thomas's best friend, and it's hard that she isn't here to keep him company.  At the same time, I know that raising children who are independent is exactly how it is supposed to be.  I'm just not used to her leaving yet.